Al Sham Rose

I’m Nick Hamman and I’m looking for the best chicken in South Africa and today I’m out in Lenasia in the South of Johannesburg at Al Sham Rose

This is a Syrian restaurant and the name requires a bit of interesting context, so let me break it down.

In Arabic, Sham historically refers to the Levant, the region comprising modern-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and parts of southern Turkey

More colloquially, ash‑Sham” often simply means Damascus, the capital of Syria where the owners are from

wardat al‑Sham or ward al‑Sham—literally the “rose of Sham,” renowned as a fragrant flower native to the Levant region

Whether you followed that or not, I need you to know that from the second this chicken was put near my face, it’s smells began to penetrate my nostrils, in the absolute best kind of way

It’s here that the quarter chicken with chips, salad, 1 laffa and sauce goes for R55

Sitting inside on a plastic chair, with the Lenasia sun warming my back on a winter’s day, as the call to prayer echoed softly from a nearby masjid. The chicken, still steaming, tore apart effortlessly, the charred edges, smoky from the grill, giving way to juicy, flavourful tenderness that had clearly spent hours marinating. Each bite, wrapped in a torn piece of laffa, swept through the sauce, tasted unmistakably middle eastern and honestly delicious

I would highly recommend trying out Al Sham Rose for yourself and have left their details in the caption, but if this is not the best chicken in South Africa, you need to let me know in the comments where I’m going next        #chicken #halal #laffa #syrianfood #middleeasternfood #levant #halaal #delicious

Read our disclaimer about Halal restaurants here.